Is MLS in team's future?

As league sets expansion plan, Scorpions aim to keep growing.

Members of the Casuals supporter group cheer Blake Wagner during a match at Toyota Field. The Scorpions want to expand their fan base.

Members of the Casuals supporter group cheer Blake Wagner during a...

Scorpions owner Gordon Hartman has repeatedly expressed his intent to let his fledgling professional soccer team grow methodically, pursuing membership in Major League Soccer only with the requisite support.

He saw no reason to alter that approach even after MLS commissioner Don Garber's announcement Wednesday that the flourishing league will add four new expansion teams by 2020.

“Most teams don't make the jump immediately,” Hartman said Thursday. “They define their fan base and build their brand. That's what I've said from Day 1. With that said, we've been very successful with that, so successful that people are looking at us to move quicker.

“I think we can be serious (candidates) if we continue to see our fan base grow, our season-ticket sales grow. We put all this together because we felt this is an extremely strong soccer city, and we're not going to do anything to put ourselves behind. But the fans have to be there with us.”

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MLS EXPANSION CANDIDATES

Several cities have been cited as candidates for the next wave of MLS expansion. They include:

Miami: Prospective owner David Beckham reportedly has his sights set on South Beach.

Atlanta: The largest media market in the country without an MLS franchise is smack in the southern target zone.

Minneapolis: A new NFL stadium for the Vikings could make this an attractive proposition.

San Antonio: While some cities will have to start bids from scratch, the Alamo City already has a team and a venue.

Hartman founded the team almost three years ago with the aim to donate all profits to special needs charities. He maintains casual contact with the MLS home office, describing the league as “very intrigued and happy” with the Scorpions' development in the midst of their second season.

Hartman is open to adding partners or selling the franchise outright as long as it aides his charitable mission. He said he's been contacted by numerous parties, describing one as serious.

“If there are others who want to move this forward in a more aggressive fashion,” Hartman said, “and we can achieve our goals, I am open to having discussions with anyone.”

The Scorpions are averaging 7,139 fans in North American Soccer League matches in their first season at Toyota Field. The new venue on the Northeast Side has a current capacity of 8,000 and can be expanded to more than 18,000.

The MLS attendance average is 18,135, roughly 700 less than last year's league record. There are 19 MLS franchises, with a 20th slated for New York in 2015.

Should the sport continue to grow like many expect, even further expansion is possible. But with no telling when, or even if, that might take place, the 2020 window could be the only chance the Scorpions have to reach the top flight of American soccer for the foreseeable future.

MLS backed off a concrete list of requirements, instead stating that future membership will be determined by “the basis of multiple criteria,” including committed ownership, a stadium plan, established support from fans and sponsors and geographic location.

With many of those assets already set in San Antonio, some think the time is ripe for the Scorpions to move up.

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“The only thing missing is the commitment to take the next step,” said James Hope, president of the Crocketteers supporters group. “It's time for San Antonio to say, 'We're committed, we want to be part of the 24 (teams).' Anything less than that, I think we're selling ourselves short.”

San Antonio has courted MLS before, reaching a tentative agreement to land an expansion team in 2005. Garber called the city an “ideal home” for an MLS franchise, but the deal imploded several months later.

The league's fortunes have vastly improved since then, with membership set to double and interested candidates stretching from coast to coast. Garber specifically mentioned expanding the league's geographic footprint as a key motivation for further expansion.

The most glaring hole in that footprint is the Southeast, with no team east of Texas or south of Washington, D.C. The region is loaded with possibilities, such as Orlando, Fla., Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

Some observers consider adding the two Florida cities to be a foregone conclusion. Perhaps not coincidentally, they also were the first candidates mentioned in the official announcement on the MLS website, along with Atlanta, Minneapolis, Detroit and Sacramento, Calif.